From a press release issued by New Hampshire International Speedway (NHIS):

Bikes Aim for Formula USA/CCS Loudon Classic

The Eighty-First Annual Loudon Classic at New Hampshire International Speedway, the nation’s oldest motorcycle race meet, is set for June 18-20. Riders from the Formula USA National Championship Series and Championship Cup Series will compete in this traditional Father’s Day weekend event. Great battles are shaping up in all of the amateur and professional classes.

In the Sportbike class, Eric Wood is expecting serious challenges from Mike Barnes, Scott Greenwood (2003 Formula USA Sportbike Champion), and Chris Ulrich as he defends his 2003 Classic title.

A highly competitive Superbike field at the Classic includes Barnes, Timothy Bemisderfer, Mike Himmelsbach, Ulrich, and Jeff Wood.

A number of Canada’s top riders will duel America’s best in the Carrera Leathers/Infinity Can-Am 125 GP and the Rising Sun/Infinity 250 GP.

A popular addition to the Loudon Classic is the Super Motard race. A jump has been added on the front straight to add to the excitement of this unique combination of asphalt and dirt racing. Jeff Wood won the 2003 inaugural race. Supercross star Doug Henry is expected to lead a strong group of contenders for the Super Motard crown.

The nine days of motorcycle action at New Hampshire International Speedway starts the weekend before the Classic with the Loudon Road Racing Series races on Saturday and Sunday, June 12-13. The popular Vintage racers from The U.S. Classic Racing Association take to the circuit on Monday, June 14.

Make your plans now to attend the Classic by calling Speedway Guest Services at (603) 783-4931 for money-saving advance sale tickets, or visit the Speedway online at www.nhis.com. Camping is available for all VIP Weekend ticket holders.


More, from a third revised version of the original press release issued by NHIS:

PLEASE NOTE: We apologize for any further inconvenience. Please note that last years Sportbike event was two legs, whereas this year’s event is one leg only. Both Jeff Wood and Scott Greenwood won in Sportbike at last year’s Classic. This final revision notes that. Also, Jeff Wood not Eric Wood was the winner of leg 1 of the 2003 Sportbike event. Once again, our apologies for any inconvenience.

Bikes Aim for Formula USA/CCS Loudon Classic

The Eighty-First Annual Loudon Classic at New Hampshire International Speedway, the nation’s oldest motorcycle race meet, is set for June 18-20. Riders from the Formula USA National Championship Series and Championship Cup Series will compete in this traditional Father’s Day weekend event. Great battles are shaping up in all of the amateur and professional classes.

In the Sportbike class, Jeff Wood and Scott Greenwood (2003 Formula USA Sportbike Champion) will be defending their 2003 Loudon Classic titles. They expect serious challenges from a talented group of riders including Chris Ulrich.

A highly competitive Superbike field at the Classic includes Timothy Bemisderfer, Mike Himmelsbach, Chris Ulrich, and Jeff Wood.

A number of Canada’s top riders will duel America’s best in the Carrera Leathers/Infinity Can-Am 125 GP and the Rising Sun/Infinity 250 GP.

A popular addition to the Loudon Classic is the Super Motard race. A jump has been added on the front straight to add to the excitement of this unique combination of asphalt and dirt racing. Jeff Wood won the 2003 inaugural race. Supercross star Doug Henry is expected to lead a strong group of contenders for the Super Motard crown.

The nine days of motorcycle action at New Hampshire International Speedway starts the weekend before the Classic with the Loudon Road Racing Series races on Saturday and Sunday, June 12-13. The popular Vintage racers from The U.S. Classic Racing Association take to the circuit on Monday, June 14.

Make your plans now to attend the Classic by calling Speedway Guest Services at (603) 783-4931 for money-saving advance sale tickets, or visit the Speedway online at www.nhis.com. Camping is available for all VIP Weekend ticket holders.

From a press release issued by Team Suzuki:

SUZUKI SET FOR RAPID MUGELLO
World MotoGP Preview. Round 4, Mugello, Italy – June 6, 2004.


MotoGP racing resumes at speed after a brief Spring break at the two tracks with the fastest straights in motorcycle racing.

At Mugello in 2002 – the first year of the new 990cc MotoGP machines – just two bikes nudged through the 200mph barrier (321.8 km/h). Last year, Suzuki joined the 200mph club along with 14 other machines.

Speeds have continued to rise as the big four-stroke prototypes move into their third year – 215mph was recorded at Catalunya in windy pre-season tests – and this year’s visit to Italy is expected to yield the fastest racing speeds so far. If conditions are against this, then the honour might as easily fall to Catalunya, one week later.

The breathtaking speed is all part of the character of the classic 3.26-mile Mugello switchback, which packs in capacity crowds of partisan Italians. Using the steep sides of an Apennine valley amid picturesque Tuscan scenery, this is the race of the year for a nation whose historic contribution to motorcycle racing continues to this day. Partisan fans of racing stars like Valentino Rossi, Max Biaggi and Loris Capirossi paint the hillsides in swathes of colour.

For the Suzuki pair, 2000 World Champion Kenny Roberts Jr. and rising star John Hopkins, the race is also important … the next step in the machine’s own renaissance.

Significant technical refinements to the 2004 version of the Suzuki GSV-R V4 racer have already seen improved lap times, prospects and results. Tests of new developments promise more to come in the future. Mugello and equally-fast Catalunya one week later are two more steps in the progress towards the goal of regaining the winner’s laurels.

Hopkins has another concern: whether his injured left hand will be strong enough to handle the brute power and high speed of the circuit outside Florence. The Anglo-American – who celebrated his 21st birthday with friends and relatives in Britain during the break – was an innocent victim in a three-bike first-lap pile-up at the French GP and broke his thumb.

One week before the start of the Italian GP, he had the plaster cast removed and began laser treatment to repair the injury as fast as possible.

During the break, Suzuki’s official test rider Gregorio Lavilla has been continuing development work with the factory team’s new-this-year tyre suppliers Bridgestone.

“It’s all part of an on-going programme – with the tyres, and with the machine itself,” said team manager Garry Taylor.

“The machine at Mugello and Catalunya will be substantially as before, but refinements, improvements and other changes take place all the time in racing, and as always we’ll be aiming at making the best bike possible for the particular demands of the tracks,” he continued.

“Our morale and expectations are still very high after our clear steps forward, but we’re still very aware that there is still a long way to go,” said Taylor.

KENNY ROBERTS: Making the most of it:

“We’re back to the fast tracks now and at this point they’re going to be tough. Like at the other tracks, we’ll work to get the bike the best it can be. It’s another race where we’ll go faster than last year – but so will all the others. We’re at a higher level than last year, but everybody has progressed and we need to keep making big steps if we are going to catch up.”


JOHN HOPKINS: Holding thumbs for the race:

“I’ve been enjoying myself in the break – visited a few clubs in London for my 21st birthday and caught a 50-plus pound conger eel on a deep-sea fishing trip. Pulling that in gave my fingers a good workout, but my thumb has been motionless in a cast for two weeks. Now it’s out and I’m getting laser treatment to get strength and movement. You need some strength to hang on tight going down that front str aight at Mugello.”

ABOUT THIS RACE:

The Italian GP is one of the classic events held ever since the foundation of the championships in 1949. This year’s race is the 55th in a series named until 1990 “The GP of the Nations,” and held almost every year at the classic Monza circuit. Imola, Misano and the old Mugello also occasionally hosted the race. In 1992, the Italian GP returned to the rebuilt and modernised Mugello facility – now part of the Ferrari Empire – and since 1994 it has been a fixture at the beautiful Tuscan circuit. Steeped in history and mystique, the Italian GP has always been both glamorous and prestigious.

ABOUT THIS TRACK:

Overlooked by the old Mille Miglia route, Mugello lies on both sides of a valley, with the pit straight and paddock complex at the lowest point. The track climbs sharply up one hillside, runs a fast switchback across the top, then plunges steeply down to soar up the opposite side where more of the same ends up in a dramatic last downhill U-bend back to the long, long straight which ends in a flat-out kink and a heart-in-the-mouth hump that lifts the front wheels at top speed, just before hard braking for the first turn. The sweeping, spacious layout marks it as a classic rather than a modern circuit, but a thorough remake ten years ago brought the facilities, surface and safety bang up to date. The pit-lane complex is superb, spectator viewing excellent, and safety standards among the highest. Average speeds are high, but overtaking difficult in the fast one-line ess-bends that mark out much of the unfashionably-long lap of 3.26 miles; while the direction changes and continuous climbs and drops are technically challenging both for riders and for team technicians. The result is often very close racing, further reinforcing the circuit’s status as a modern classic.

GP DATA:

Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello.

Circuit Length: 3.259 miles / 5.245 km

Lap Record: 1:52.601 – 104.197 mph / 167.656 km/h. T Ukawa (Honda) 2001

2003 Results:

Race Winner: Valentino Rossi (Honda)

Race Average: 43:28.008 – 103.471 mph / 166.520 km/h.

Fastest Race Lap: 1:52.623 Loris Capirossi (Ducati)

Pole Position: Rossi 1:51.927

Kenny Roberts: DNF, qualified 18th 1:53.399 (Suzuki)
Fastest Race Lap: 1:54.502

John Hopkins: DNF, qualified 19th 1:54.626 (Suzuki)
Fastest Race Lap: 1:52.969

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc. Rich Thorwaldson, 58, a former AMA National motocross star from the 1970s, was seriously injured in a crash during an AFM race Sunday, May 30 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. Thorwaldson, who has competed in many regional road race events over recent years, crashed in the “Carousel,” Turn Six, at Infineon Raceway and was transported by helicopter to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital in Santa Rosa, California. He was later transported to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, California, near San Francisco, where he is currently receiving care. According to Layne Kolbet, Parts Manager at Thorwaldson’s Big Valley Honda dealership in Reno, Nevada, a press release regarding the accident and Thorwaldson’s condition is being prepared.

From a press release issued by FGSport Group:


The Albacete 12 Horas Nocturnas round of the World Endurance Championship takes place this weekend. The race, which runs through the night from Saturday evening to Sunday morning, is the first long distance event of the year and the first night race of the year.

The teams that have not yet made their mark on the championship this year will see this race as their first opportunity to make the most of their pure endurance skills. The championship front runners, meanwhile, will have to walk a delicate tightrope between allout performance and last-the-distance reliability; tortoise or hare? This year, fuel consumption is set to be more important than ever. A team that can eke an extra ten minutes of track time out of each tank of fuel will save at least two stop s over the duration of the race; a difference that could add up to a one-lap advantage by the end of the race.

The twelve hour race will be long enough for pit lane and team work advantages to really come into play, but competitive lap times are needed as well. The 500km race at Assen and the six hour race at Zhuhai both saw their share of mechanical failures; Albacete will be tougher still on the highly tuned Superbike specification machines.

Whatever happens on track, the spectators who will flock to the circuit on Saturday night are guaranteed to be winners. Twelve hours of intense night racing, an all night party, and a good chance of a Spanish rider on the podium by Sunday morning… A perfect weekend.

From a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team:

FUCHS KAWASAKI ENLIST THE HELP OF THE GREEN LADIES AT MUGELLO

Having recently returned from a successful promotional event at Imola, the Kawasaki Racing Team head back to Italy for this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, confident of strong local support after enlisting the help of the Kawasaki Italy backed Green Ladies.

Located in the Tuscan hills, the Mugello circuit is one at which Shinya Nakano has won races in the past. The 26-year-old Japanese rider took the race win in the 250cc class at Mugello in 2000, backing that up last year with a front row start and a sixth place finish in the MotoGP class.

Coming from the disappointment of a retirement at Le Mans last time out, Nakano is determined to give the Fuchs Kawasaki Racing Team a good result this weekend, on a track he thoroughly enjoys racing at.

Mugello also ranks as one of Alex Hofmann’s favourite circuits and, after a disappointing start to his rookie year in the MotoGP class, the 23-year-old German rider is hoping that this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix will prove to be the turning point of the season for him.

Cheering on the Fuchs Kawasaki riders this weekend will be the Green Ladies; a group of five girls who, together with a number of helpers, are dedicated to raising the profile of motorcycling in their home country. While the main focus of the Green Ladies is on organising and running motorcycle tours and track schools for both men and women, the group also have a strong on track presence, with two of their number regularly racing in Italian Championship events.

The youngest of the Green Ladies racers is 27-year-old Roxy, who campaigns a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R in the Italian Female Championship, while 29-year-old Claudia, or Tiger as she is known in the paddock, is the only female rider in the hotly contested Italian Ninja Trophy series, which is backed by Fuchs Silkolene and fought out on near identical Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6RR machines.

All five Green Ladies will join the Fuchs Kawasaki Racing Team at Mugello, where they will be given the opportunity to meet Shinya Nakano and Alex Hofmann and to see behind the scenes in the Kawasaki pit box as the team prepare for the Italian Grand Prix.

Shinya Nakano: No.56
“I have some good memories of the Mugello circuit and I love racing here. I can’t wait to get out on track tomorrow and find out how the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR works around this circuit. Not finishing the race at Le Mans was a disappointment for everyone in the team, but I’m confident that we won’t have similar problems this weekend. I’m looking forward to the weekend ahead and, if I can put in a good qualifying performance on Friday and Saturday, then a top eight finish is a definite possibility come race day.”

Alex Hofmann: No.66
“There’s no denying that I need a good weekend, after what has been a difficult start to the season for me, and what better place to turn my season around than Mugello? This is definitely one of my favourite tracks; the circuit is fantastic to ride, the fans are some of the most enthusiastic in the world and the atmosphere is second to none. We will need to work hard on Friday and Saturday to find a good set up on the bike and to identify a suitable race tyre, but there’s no reason why this race shouldn’t prove to be a turning point for us.”

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Harley-Davidson is looking to sell its American-made motorcycles in China, but several difficult hurdles stand in the way, according to sources within the company.

In response, Harley-Davidson is currently looking to form a limited partnership with a Chinese motorcycle manufacturer to ease the process of importing, marketing and selling its machines there, according to an article appearing in today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Harley-Davidson does not have any plans to manufacture motorcycles outside of the United States, according to sources.

You can view the article here: http://www.jsonline.com/bym/news/jun04/233977.asp

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Reigning Canadian Superbike and Sportbike Champion Pascal Picotte will ride for Jordan Motorsports in place of Montez “Tez” Stewart at the AMA Superbike event this weekend at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Stewart broke his left wrist in a crash during the AMA Supersport race at Pikes Peak International Speedway May 23.

“Tez is a maybe for this weekend,” James Casmay, co-owner of the Michael Jordan-backed team, told Roadracingworld.com Thursday in the Road America paddock. “He’s in San Francisco right now with Dr. (Arthur) Ting, but Ting told him four-to-six weeks last week. So he’s still a maybe.

“Pascal is going to ride. He’s going to ride in Superbike and Formula Xtreme, not Tez’s classes, Supersport and Superstock. So if Tex does ride, we’ll have bikes for everyone and in every class.

“Pascal was looking at doing this round anyway, and we knew we had to be here to represent for our sponsors.

“It’s kind of a good fit. Our guys already work with Pascal. Pete Mauhar works with Pascal in the Canadian series, and he worked with most of our crew guys (who are contracted from Gemini Racing) before too.”

“I know all these guys,” said Picotte. “Pete works with me in Canada, and I worked with all these other guys back when I was with Harley. It’s good to have good people to work with.”

Picotte said he found the Jordan Yamaha YZF-R1 and YZF-R6 to be “quite similar” to his Picotte Yamahas. “Same bikes, same tires, just with different suspension. We’re going to valve it and make it as close to mine as we can. It shouldn’t take me too long to get right on track,” said Picotte. “I’m just happy to be here. I feel kind of sorry to have to replace (Stewart), but if it’s what they need to keep the program going I’m happy to help.

“Maybe I can help them get the bikes set-up better for Tez for when he’s healthy. Maybe I can give them a direction to go in. And Tez will be here this weekend, so maybe we can spend some time together and I can mentor him a little bit, even if he’s not riding. He can listen in and see what changes I make to the bike to fix problems and such.”

From a press release issued by Ducati North America:


DUCATI TO EXTEND AND EXPAND PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT WITH OAKLEY

May 2004, Bologna, Italy – Ducati has decided to extend its successful existing licensing agreement with renowned eyewear company Oakley, for an additional three years. The relationship will be strengthened with the arrival of five exclusive new models of Oakley eyewear.

New for 2004, Ducati and Oakley will introduce custom versions of Oakley’s Monster Dog™ and Zero® sunglasses and will continue to offer last year’s successful custom Juliet®, Half-Jacket® and Valve® styles. In addition to sunglasses, Ducati and Oakley will also offer the Wisdom® snow goggle for the 2004 fall season, a product which takes Ducati’s passion for speed and aerodynamics to the mountains – the Italian Alps and Dolomites, of course.

All products covered by the agreement feature color schemes and graphic treatments consistent with the Ducati brand and bear laser engraved lenses with Ducati trademarks, among other unique features. The products will be distributed through the Ducati Store and dealership network and Oakley’s sunglass distribution points worldwide, including over 100 Oakley-owned retail locations.

“When it comes to high performance eyewear we think Oakley is the most exciting and dynamic brand in the world. Finally, I have a cool pair of sunglasses to wear!” commented Federico Minoli, Chairman and CEO of Ducati Motor Holding.

“With the evolution of this relationship we are now able to offer additional Ducati inspired performance eyewear pieces to our enhanced dealer distribution network,” said David Gross, Creative Director of Ducati Motor, “It is particularly exciting for us considering the fact that our top racers in the past have always chosen Oakley eyewear. ”

“Given the tremendous success of last year’s product offerings, we are excited to renew this relationship for three additional years with a company that shares our passion for design and performance products. Ducati’s unbelievable performance record on the race track validates their position as a world leader in motorcycle design and manufacturing,” commented Oakley Executive Vice President Tommy Rios. Ducati has won more World Superbike Championships than any other manufacturer and has more single race victories than all other competitors combined. The custom sunglasses created under the agreement are directly inspired by Ducati racing tradition, combining sleek design with technical performance.

Specific terms of the deal were not released.

From a press release issued by AMA Pro Racing:

AMA PRO RACING ON TV THIS WEEK

(All times Eastern)

Pro Honda Oils Supersport presented by Shoei final, Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisc., Sunday, June 6, 3-4 p.m. SPEED Channel



AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship Doubleheader, Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisc., Sunday, June 6, (Race 1, 4-5 p.m.) (Race 2, 5-6 p.m.) SPEED Channel



Pro Honda Oils Supersport presented by Shoei final, Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisc., Tuesday, June 8, 12-1 p.m. SPEED Channel



AMA Chevrolet Motocross Championship (125cc & 250cc), High Point Raceway, Mt. Morris, Penn., Saturday, June 5, 1-3 p.m. ESPN2